Smart Motion Lights: AVOID these mistakes!

Here's the other video, where I show how I set up some of the motion light automations: https://youtu.be/1yEja8CL-5w

So, the thing I love about this channel is the involvement you get with your family. I think that really helps make it more authentic.

Another great video, Reed! One thing that works really well for bathrooms is "wasp in a box" logic. If the motion sensor has been triggered and the door is closed, someone is definitely still in there and needs the lights on (even if they're sitting on the toilet watching YouTube videos). So configure the automation to only turn off the lights if the motion sensor is clear and the door is open.

One thing I find super helpful is to always automate with odd numbers that people wouldn’t use. Like 99%, 49%, 1% ect for things like brightness or blind level. This way the Automation can check if the current state was automated and can continue to adjust. But if someone has set the lights in the kitchen to 100%, the automation doesn’t adjust those lights. Or if someone mid day closed their blinds fully, the automation don’t then open them. Then nightly at 2am I have an automation that resets things in the house back to an automated position, any blind that is set to 100% motors to 99% or if at 0% adjusts to 1% (not even audible). Any lights that are still on get turned off, fans set back to a desirable state, ect.

1:07 another problem I found with these Lutron motion sensors is that a) some models don’t have an ambient light sensor so will turn on even during the day and b) glass shower doors seem to reflect the IR sensors so even though the switch is facing into the bathroom, people walking by while the door is open can trigger the lights

my biggest improvement was binning all my sonoff PIR sensors and using mm wave sensors instead (Tuya zy-m100). For the beds im using load cells for bed presence detection preventing the lights coming on if someone's in bed

You covered all the issues I've faced and addressed. I have also added a pre arm state so when walking past certain rooms in the right conditions the next room will light up 50% of what the current target brightness for 5 seconds and then either turns off with no confirmed motion or go to the target brightness (and colour) with confirmed motion. Also when the delayed turning off I have made it go to 50% brightness for 30 seconds before fading to off to give ample time to move a bit more. I'm currently in the process of installing espresense onto mant esp32s and will have one in the roof space above each room to further add to the functionality.

great list! i've learned most of these myself over the years of home automation, but this can help newcomers!!

Great video. The tip to fade the light first is excellent

I have motion sensors in my bedroom and it’s perfect. I have two motion sensors. One looking at the whole room, and one installed under a piece of furniture, able to see only at floor level. At night, only the one at floor level turns on the light, at 15% intensity. The light remains on for about 15 seconds after both sensors see no motion (so one sensor is used to turn light on, but both keep the light on afterwards). Motion in the bed during the night has never turned on the light. During the day, both sensors turn on the light at 100% intensity. One could wonder why not use a floor-level sensor only. It's because it's difficult to scan the whole room at floor level with furniture in the way.

using timer helpers really helps. motion events just reset the timer, and the timer finish is what turns the lights off. makes it very easy to have multiple events which can reset the timer.

love your videos. always some great ideas and i like how you walk through lessons you learned. keep it up!

The humor in your videos is a breath of fresh air. Love the channel.

Really enjoyed this video Reed. Always love the incorporating of your wife and her reactions.

I’ve been using the WiZ SpaceSense feature in a bedroom for a couple of weeks… so far so good. There is one WiZ bulb each in two floorstanding fixtures, spaced across the room from each other.

Automation Kill Switches are something several automaters have mentioned, and they are a life saver when you live with other people. Sometimes automations just don't work that well when you have visitors and you need to have that kill switch

Great advice, thanks!

Great Vid! I had to disable all my motion automations because I failed to share with my in-laws and they thought we had ghosts 😂

Omg..last 10 seconds!! The best!

Love it! Thanks for the tips!